


As One Day Ends

by AnxiousCoffee (TheHallowedAngel)



Series: Silence In Common [1]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Caretaker Kelly Severide, Emetophilia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Public Illness, Sick Matthew Casey, Sickfic, Sickness, Vomiting, but trust me it's there, emeto, in which Matt is suffering and Kelly does his best to help, pretty much all the characters apart from Matt and Kelly are just passing mentions, sevacey only if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 19:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16750471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHallowedAngel/pseuds/AnxiousCoffee
Summary: Matt comes down with something but comes in to work regardless, however when they're pulled out to a job things turn upside down- it certainly feels like that anyway.[Set somewhere between 01x07 and 01x08, there are spoilers for the end of 01x07 so beware.]





	As One Day Ends

**Author's Note:**

> There's literally no sickfic for this fandom, I'm gonna have to change that. Hope you like it

Just as Matt settled onto his knees in front of the toilet, alarms blared through the speakers around the station. Nausea twisted in the pit of his stomach but he pushed it aside and forced himself back onto his feet again, holding his head as the world spun around him. He held his breath as the instructions droned on. Truck 81, engine 51 squad 3, ambulance 61. All of them were wanted, warehouse fire.

Releasing a nauseous belch into his fist, he slid the lock open on the cubicle door and staggered out. He grabbed hold of the counter and turned the faucet on, splashing water in his face as if that would somehow stop him from feeling like he was sat on one of those teacup rides on steroids. 

_ You'll be fine, Casey _ . He glared at the reflection of a man he didn't really know. Dark circles under his eyes, an ashen look to his skin, he looked so sick he was barely himself. Swallowing again, he turned the tap off and rushed to get into the truck.

“What took you so long?” Matt couldn’t work out who it was that said it, his head was spinning too much too much to even try and put a face to a voice, so he just shrugged and shouldered the suspenders on his pants, tugging them into place. Someone else was talking at him now, but he ignored them, clambering into the passenger’s seat and slamming the door shut. Thinking about it, it was probably Kelly, the voice had the same sort of annoying confidence his always did.

-

The drive to the fire was harder than he thought it would be, he found himself biting down on the inside of his cheek just so he could focus on something other than his stomach- which was currently trying to kill him apparently. He had one hand pressed to his gut, occasionally he would run it around in a circle to ease the discomfort, his other was propped up on the door and covering his mouth. 

No one questioned his silence and no one noticed the hand against his stomach, to be honest they’d all been giving him a very wide berth. For the past day or so he had been drifting in and out, like he was stuck between this reality and another, he hadn’t been focusing on anything other than the calls and in between he was just shut in his quarters.

What Hallie had said really threw him off course, he’d known she was reluctant to have kids this early but the fact that she’d only said she wanted them because he’d said so just made him wonder what else she’d lied about to make him happy.

They pulled up outside of the job, the flames were already climbing up the outside of the building, chasing thick, black smoke as they did. 

As they all climbed out Matt hung back, acting like he was checking his radio- at least he was until a frantic shout pulled him back to what he should have been focusing on. He found running to catch up, completely forgetting about his stomach in favour of barking out orders and setting up teams to go in. The place was meant to be empty but where there was one person in a place like this, there was always more. Squad was gearing up to take the ladder to the victim hanging out of the window as Matt was putting his helmet back on after pulling on his mask; he caught Kelly watching him as he walked past.

Not once while he was running in and out of that building did his stomach give him grief, not once did he have to stop and breathe, he felt better than he had for weeks. Adrenaline can do that to you though.

-

It wasn’t until they were almost back at the station, in fact, that things took that all to familiar turn for the worse. He was laughing and joking and exchanging jabs with the lads behind him when everything in his stomach made the effort to leave all to fast. He hovered one had over his mouth as he forced the next words out of his mouth.

“Cruz, pullover. Now.” the aforementioned firefighter took one look at the lieutenant and then rang the sirens twice, pulling the truck to the side of the road and putting her into park just as Matt threw open the door and fell out onto the road. Cruz watched through the right wing mirror as someone, probably Otis, tried to open the door; Matt pushed it shut before it moved more than a few inches and then disappeared around the back.

-

As soon as he got around the rear of 51, he planted both hands on his knees and bent over enough to aim between his boots with enough certainty that he wouldn’t ruin the shine. Squad pulled up just ahead of truck, and he heard Severide shouting, telling people to stay inside. He took in a slow, deep breath.

Since he was on solid ground again, his stomach had settles just enough that he was just so incredibly queasy, teetering (unfairly) on the edge of puking. The urge to gag was sat on the back of his tongue but he couldn’t will himself to throw up, his body being an asshole.

“Matt, you alright?” Severide placed a hand on his shoulder and bend down to look him in the eyes, frowning at him. Matt didn’t dare talk, instead settling for shaking his head.

“Adrenaline crash?” he shook his head again. Kelly settled him down onto the back of the truck, gently convincing him to put his head between his knees. 

Kelly rubbed his back with a firm hand, watching the cars zip past and people gawk at them from inside, some of the people walking on the sidewalk stopped to stare but Kelly shooed them away.

Matt spat towards the asphalt, nausea swelling in his stomach as it tossed and churned. He really didn’t want to do this here, anywhere else would have been fine but of all places why did it have to be in public? He’d always been pretty indifferent about throwing up, it was a natural process and there wasn’t much point getting worked up over it (which Severide was especially good at) but there were limits to what he could handle. Shame burned his cheeks as he sucked in deep breaths, trapping his bottom lip between his teeth.

-

They must have sat there for three or four minutes, every so often Matt would burp and tense up as though bracing himself and Kelly would start to run his hand up and down Matt’s back again, but nothing ever happened. 

And that had to be the worst part about this, his stomach was cramping so hard that it put tears in his eyes and yet he just wasn’t throwing up. Another sharp pain shot through his abdomen and Matt put his head in his hands, propping them up on his legs, so Kelly couldn’t see the tears spill over.

“Feel so fuckin’ sick” he mumbled quietly, once again spitting out the bitter taste in his mouth. He heard a door open and shut and then closed his eyes as footsteps approached. Otis wordlessly passed Kelly a bottle of water, one of Herman’s vitamin waters or whatever they claimed to be, before he disappeared again. 

-

Another few minutes passed before a loud gurgling sound split the silence, Severide held his breath as finally,  _ finally _ , Matt’s back arched with a gutural retch. A meagre amount of vomit splattered against the space between his boots and like that it was all over.

Another heave rolled up his spine, Kelly felt the muscles strain under his hand as Matt’s upper body jolted, a sick belch bringing up a projectile flood of coffee and mostly-digested food, the mess splashing the bottom of his pants and his boots. Severide didn’t make much of an effort to move his own legs out of the way, not even batting an eye as puke flecked his boots too. He just remained silent, circling his hand over the small of Matthew’s back. 

Matt brought one more wave up before he was overrun with dry-heaves, stomach desperate to purge what wasn’t there anymore, a bitter taste in the back of his throat making everything worse.

“Breathe, Matt. There’s nothing left bud.” Kelly meant well, but Matt quickly grew agitated.

“Don’t you-” Another gag cut him off, shoulders snapping forward so fast that it left them aching. “Don’t you think I know that?” he spoke as sharply as he could manage while it felt like his stomach was trying to turn itself inside out. 

They stayed there for a small while more before Mouch put his head around the corner, scratching the back of his head. Kelly acknowledged him with a quick glance before he turned back to the other lieutenant.

“I don’t mean to rush you or anything but the chief radioed through, he wants to know what the hold up is. Says we got a kindergarten visit or something. We haven’t told him Lieutenant Casey is sick though, didn’t think you’d want me to.” Mouch kept a careful watch on the two of them while he spoke, slipping both hands into his pockets.

Matt sniffed, then placing a finger over one nostril and clearing the other, repeating the action on the other side before he spat out all he could manage to clear from his mouth. He gratefully accepted the water when Kelly passed it to him, using it to first swill around his mouth and then taking a long, slow drink. Kelly noted, relieved, that some of the colour had returned to his cheeks.

“Yeah, okay. Sorry about this, Mouch.” Kelly spoke on Matt’s behalf, he was still looking a little too peaky and Kelly wasn’t sure is Matt would even answer anyways.

Mouch offered them a warm smile. “No reason to apologise, Lieutenants! You know, this one time I was sat in the back of a truck with-” Matt held up his hand to cut him off, paling again just at the  _ thought _ of what Mouch may be about to release upon the world.

-

It was unanimously decided, by Severide, Boden and Herman, that he wasn’t going home, no one wanted to drive him back and he certainly couldn’t drive himself so he was quarantined to his private bunk. Boden had basically blew his top when he found out Matt had come into work sick, Kelly had helped him to bed as soon as the Chief was done shouting at him and calling him reckless and he swore Matt was going to start crying at one point. It wasn’t hard to tell he had a fever, a really high one at that, and as well as the obvious nausea there was the rivers of sweat running down his face and back and the pain he was nursing in his gut.

Kelly set him down on the bed and they barely had the door closed when Matt doubled over the floor with a painful sounding heave, smacking a hand over his mouth only for a wash of water and bile to drip through his fingers. Kelly snagged the bin from beside Matt’s desk and held it just under his chin, crouching down and turning away as the rest of the water splashed into the bag. It had barely stayed down long enough to get warm.

“Okay Matt, it’s alright.” Kelly soothed him as best he could, Matt had the dirtied hand stretched out to his side as though it offended him and the other had found its way to one of Kelly’s, pressed on top of it. Neither of them noticed, or if they did they didn’t comment. 

As soon as Matt calmed down, Kelly set the bin next to the bed, standing only to grab the towel on the back of Matt’s chair before he sat next to Matthew on the bed and took his hand inside the plush fabric. 

Matt sort of just sat staring at his hand, the one in the towel and then (indirectly) in Kelly’s hands, not really focusing on much more than the fact that  _ Kelly was holding his hand _ . Only when he was satisfied it was clean enough did Kelly let go, using the towel to then mop up the small pool of sick on the floor.

“Sorry.” Matt sounded miserable, on the verge of tears again, and his face was blotchy and covered in snot and tears. Kelly couldn’t help but smile a little at the state he was in, the guy rarely even shit at work, this sort of vulnerability didn’t suit him at all.

“It’s alright, everyone gets sick sometimes, Matt. Lay down, you should get some sleep before the next call comes in, I know you won’t be able to sleep when we’re out without you.” Matt nodded and tugged the suspenders off of his shoulders, standing long enough to shed the heavy-duty trousers and the connected boots before collapsing back onto the bed. He curled up on top of the sheets, dragging his knees up to his chest and laying one arm under his neck, clasping his fingers together behind his head. Kelly pulled the chair from by the table and set it closer to the bed, settling in for a long night. 


End file.
